Old chain checker trick from a guy at the co-op in Portland

Was volunteering at the bike co-op near my apartment in SE Portland a couple months back. This older dude, must have been 70, watched me using a chain wear indicator on a customers bike. He pulled me aside and told me "you're throwing away good chains if you only use that tool." Then he showed me how he checks by pulling the chain off the big ring - if it lifts more than half a tooth, then it's done. Said the chain checkers can give false readings if the chain is dirty or has a stiff link. Anybody else run into that issue?

3 comments

3 Comments

danielh8123d ago

Yeah I read somewhere that chain checkers are basically useless on dirty chains.

park.adam21d ago

But what about chain wear specifically from the inside out where a ruler or pull method might not catch it as early? That's the whole reason the tool presses between the rollers instead of measuring overall length. A dirty chain could actually make a checker read more worn than it really is if grit gets wedged in there, so maybe it's less useless and more inconsistent depending on the grime.

wells.brooke23d ago

Hold on, I mean chain checkers are fine if you use them right and keep the chain clean. I've compared mine against the "pull it off the ring" method on a few of my own bikes and they've given the same result every time. Maybe it's just me but I think that old trick might be more about feel than actual precision.